I saw this morning that a talk by Charles Murray scheduled at Azusa Pacific University was “postponed.” Here is an open letter Dr. Murray wrote to the students of the school. This doesn’t surprise me at all, but it is disconcerting nonetheless. Azusa Pacific is supposedly a Christian university, but avowedly Christian colleges are not immune from leftist academic group think. I believe the phrases “Christian left” or “liberal Christian” are oxymorons, but unfortunately in Christian academia this is not the case.
I know this very well. I was the Director of Public Information for almost eight years at Messiah College, a small Christian college in central Pennsylvania. Much of the faculty there leaned left. One situation stands out to me from my time there that was a good indication of the faculty’s worldview. I used to publish a weekly newsletter for the campus, and I would always put a quote from some famous person at the end. In one issue I put a quote that indicated the greatness or exceptionalism of America; it wasn’t jingoistic in any sense.
I don’t remember the exact quote because it was back in the early 90s, but I do remember the call I got from a faculty member. He was, and I don’t over state it here, irate. How dare I put such a quote in a Messiah College publication; didn’t I know how ethnocentric this was? Don’t I know that America isn’t perfect? Look at all the bad things America has sanctioned in its history? Think how this makes other people from other culture’s feel!
When my daughter was looking for a college to attend four years ago, we visited three colleges in Michigan (we live in the Chicago area), two of which were Christian schools, Hope College and Calvin College. I remember walking through Calvin and seeing signs about “sustainability,” and other such progressive shibboleths. No daughter of mine was going to such a school! Fortunately for her, our third visit was to the Mecca of conservative higher education, Hillsdale College. She graduates in a little over two weeks. She called me late last night after she and some other graduating seniors had spent the evening at a dinner with the great Larry Arnn, president of the school. Her experience last night was priceless, as has been her four years there, and not a progressive in sight!
That’s fantastic, Thomas! Good for you. Unfortunately, some of us are addicted to temporal things along with our commitment to eternal things. Cheers!
I think either anarchy or totalitarianism would be anathema to Christianity, but between those extremes is a range that is acceptable to God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that civil society and government have legitimate roles in bettering the human condition. Jesus told Pilate that his authority came from God. Paul likewise said that the authority of government officials was from God, so we should respect and obey them.
This is difficult for conservatives (and especially libertarians) to accept. To what extent does one respect and obey officials we don’t like?
But I don’t worry about it too much. When I was younger, I was a politically active libertarian and Rand-admiring atheist. As I got older, I returned to Catholicism, now read the Bible daily, and am less concerned about which political party is in power. I don’t expect much from politicians or political systems, and am more interested in eternal truths.
Thomas, I take your point and it is a valid one, to a degree. But I’m always leery of taking a verse of scripture and resting and entire argument upon it. Jesus also said that the Kingdom of God is within you, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t express God’s Kingdom values in the world, right? I am currently reading David Bentley Hart’s “Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and It’s Fashionable Enemies.” The Christian revolution he is referring to here is the effect the Christian religion had upon the pagan world in its first four hundred years of existence. The Kingdom of God may not be “of this world,” but Christians trying to live out those values turned THIS world upside down.
So I encourage Christians to look to the whole scope of redemptive history, from Genesis to Revelation, and in church history to see how we should think as Christians about the world we simply cannot escape. Socialism and capitalism are not equal, and a Christian based on God’s revelation, both in his Word and in his World, should not embrace the former.
Christ said that “My kingdom is not of this world.” I interpret that to mean that Christianity is neither progressive or conservative, but apolitical.
Provided that a political party does not seek to suppress active participation in the Christian faith, a good Christian can vote for either a libertarian or socialist economic model. God leaves it up to us how we manage our worldly affairs. Any political or economic system we choose will be imperfect anyway, that’s a given.